Part 42 (1/2)
She had called her mom and told her not to pick her up at noon when her morning s.h.i.+ft at the shelter ended.
”I want to have lunch with Dad,” Felicity had said. ”It's only five blocks from here to the church. I can walk there in no time.”
Preoccupied with Missy, her mother had easily agreed to her request. Mom had her hands full with Missy's problems, the latest of which was her being questioned in yet another murder case. To say that her mom had been neglecting the rest of them ever since Missy had become a member of their family was an understatement. Missy had been a nuisance for quite some time, ever since Felicity realized that Seth Cantrell had a thing for her. Seth was blinded by Missy's blond beauty and her damsel-in-distress persona. Now the whole world felt sorry for Missy. Yeah, okay, even she did, at least to a certain extent. Imagine being repeatedly raped by your own father. Yuck!
Felicity arrived at the church at twelve-fifteen, quickly made her way downstairs and hurried toward her father's office in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Her footsteps were m.u.f.fled by the cus.h.i.+oned layer of industrial-strength carpet that covered the bas.e.m.e.nt floor. The outer door to the minister's office stood wide open, so Felicity walked in, expecting to see Erin McKinley at her desk. But the outer office was empty.
As she opened the door to her father's private office, she started to knock but stopped dead still when she saw Erin and her father kissing. Erin had her arms around Felicity's father's neck, and he was gripping her on either side of her waist.
Shocked beyond belief, Felicity backed up slowly, quietly turned around and ran into the hallway. She was halfway up the stairs when she heard her father calling her name.
He had nothing to say that she wanted to hear.
Her father was an adulterous blasphemer.
Just how long had he been having an affair with his secretary?
Oh, mercy! Her poor, sweet mother!
”Let her go, John Earl.” Erin came up and grasped his arm. ”Maybe it was for the best. Better that she know now, that everyone knows.”
John Earl glared at his secretary, a woman he had thought of as a loyal employee and a good friend. He'd never thought of her as anything more and had had no idea she harbored any romantic feelings for him. Not until today. Not until a few minutes ago, when she had kissed him.
They had been talking, just talking. He'd been using her as a sounding board for his concerns about the situation with Missy. Erin had been consoling him, agreeing with him that perhaps Ruth Ann's kind heart had led her to take on Missy as a charity case while neglecting her own two daughters, at least temporarily.
”Ruth Ann is a good woman, but she isn't perfect. And she doesn't love you the way I do. I'd never put anyone else's needs before yours,” Erin had told him. ”You would always come first with me.”
That's when she had thrown her arms around his neck, told him again that she loved him madly and then kissed him. Thrown off guard by her actions, it had taken him a few seconds to respond by grabbing her waist and pus.h.i.+ng her away. Unfortunately, Felicity had walked in and seen Erin kissing him and had jumped to the wrong conclusion.
John Earl grasped Erin's shoulders and looked directly at her. ”Erin, I'm sorry if I've ever done anything to lead you on, to make you believe that I reciprocated your feelings.”
She stared at him, her eyes wide and filled with disbelief. ”But I love you. I've loved you forever. I know that if you'll only admit it to yourself, you love me, too.”
He gave her shoulders a sound squeeze, then released her. ”I believe it best if you go home for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, we'll discuss how best to handle your resignation.”
”You're firing me?”
”No, no,” John Earl a.s.sured her. ”But under the circ.u.mstances...I'll give you an excellent reference and help you find other employment. Now, please, Erin, go home. I need to call Ruth Ann and tell her what happened, and then I need to find my daughter and explain to her that what she thought she saw-”
Erin slapped him, then spun around and marched back into the office. He had to admit that he hadn't seen that slap coming any more than he had the kiss.
Half a minute later, with her leather bag hung over her shoulder, Erin swept past him without a glance. He returned to his office, picked up the phone and called his wife. He had to put a lid on this before it exploded in his face and his entire family got hurt.
”Jack?” Officer Grimes stuck his head in the door of Mike's office, where the task force was sharing a working lunch, barbeque from Big Ed's Barbeque & Ribs. ”That Cantrell kid is back. He wants to talk to you.”
”Seth Cantrell?”
”Yep. And from the way he's acting, I'd say if you don't come out and talk to him, I'll have to handcuff him to stop him from coming in here.”
Jack glanced around the room. ”Will you folks excuse me?” He looked at Mike and nodded toward the door. When he headed out, Mike followed him. They paused just beyond the open door.
”I need to take half an hour,” Jack said. ”It's personal.”
”Problems with Cathy's son?”
”Yeah, something like that.”
”Can't it wait?”
”I don't think so,” Jack told him. ”Otherwise, I wouldn't ask for the time.”
”Okay. Go do whatever you need to do.”
Jack thanked his old buddy and then scanned the outer office for Seth. He saw him across the room, about ten feet away. The boy looked like hammered h.e.l.l.
When he approached, Seth squared his shoulders and looked Jack right in the eye. In that instant, Jack realized that Seth knew the truth.
”Let's get out of here,” Jack said. ”I've got a thirty-minute lunch break. We can take a walk and talk.”
Seth nodded.
They walked in silence as they exited the sheriff's department and crossed the street. When they reached the small park in the center of town, a block away, Jack pointed to a wooden park bench. ”Let's sit.”
They sat, one on each end of the bench.
”Let's hear it,” Jack said.
”I know.”
”Know what?”
”That you're my father, my biological father.”
Jack sucked in a deep breath. ”Yeah, it seems that I am.”
”She lied to me,” Seth said. ”She lied to both of us. I hate her. I hate her so much. And I hate you.”
Seth hung his head and stared down at the ground.
Jack felt his son's pain. So this was what it was like to have a child hurting and not be able to help him. More than anything, he wanted to erase the agony he saw on Seth's face and heard in his voice.
”Exactly what did your mother say to you?”
”Nothing much. I didn't give her the chance. I didn't want to hear any of her lies.”